This is one of those games you hate to love. It’s simple and pure fun, but the unforgiving computer and the strange effectiveness of occasionally losing your cool and just randomly hammering the screen everywhere cheapens it. Find a friend to pick it up as well (or arrange some DS download play) and have fun.

But the battles are the heart of this game, and despite a steep learning curve, they’re strategy-filled, immensely deep and visually stunning. If you missed it the first time around, there’s no reason to ignore Yggdra Union again.

If you like your RPGs old school, yet approachable in their difficulty, you can’t do much better than this.

It’s not radically different from its already brilliant predecessor (at least not yet), but everything is tighter and runs more smoothly, and there’s an explosive, extended encore.

The best decision the development team made was scrapping last year’s (too?) complicated control scheme for a streamlined series of options, including one that apes EA’s superb right stick/hockey stick mechanic.

The best decision the development team made was scrapping last year’s (too?) complicated control scheme for a streamlined series of options, including one that apes EA’s superb right stick/hockey stick mechanic.

It’s just too bad that it looks so darned ugly. The controls are a breath of fresh air, though, so long as you give them a chance (which we have a feeling too many people won’t).

Between the just-right-amount-of-stuff-to-do-without-overwhelming-you franchise mode and nifty mini- and party games, there’s plenty to do this fall. While you’re at it, do yourself a favor and dig NHL 2K5 out of your library, just to be reminded how good things used to be.

But Lock’s Quest is just too damn fast-paced for the fussy controls to get annoying enough to really kill the fun.

Between the NFL Network announcer that has the same canned sound bite for common transactions and the lousy framerate of the in-game action, there’s a decidedly second-class-citizen feel from the get-go.

Between the NFL Network announcer that has the same canned sound bite for common transactions and the lousy framerate of the in-game action, there’s a decidedly second-class-citizen feel from the get-go.

Taken as a whole, Infinite Undiscovery’s a game with a bit of an identity crisis. When it’s acting like a run-of-the-mill JRPG, it feels clichéd, but reasonably enjoyable. When it tries to be innovative, however, its unsatisfying combat, superfluous subsystems and wasted ensemble cast make the whole experience feel half-hearted.

But for more serious pinata fans, as well as newcomers to Pinata Island, Trouble in Paradise is nearly flawless.

An incredibly deep experience.

Multiplayer co-op and competitive matches are just as much fun as they were on XBLA with modes such as racing and tag to take part in. Still, the bread and butter of n+ is the single-player ninja action and while the game can be quite a frustrating slog, it never truly feels crushing.

Even if you’ve played N+ over Xbox Live, or the free PC version, $20 is a small price to pay to brandish this bundle of gaming bliss in the palm of your hands anywhere you damn well please.

Despite continuing gripes about the not-so-perfect controls, ordinary visuals, and screaming fans that you only hear and never see, Tiger Woods 09 shapes up as the best golf title yet for the Wii. There’s plenty to do and just about anyone can grab a club and jump right in.

While the golf is undeniably fun, you’re much better off snapping up a copy from Tiger’s PS2 heyday a couple of years back – unlike baseball or football, these games tend to age well.

For gamers who are willing to obsess over the stats and intricacies, Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice will give you an excuse to chain yourself to your couch.

This may sound like a lot of customization, but every gameplay element is embarrassingly shallow.

From the Abyss isn't a terrible game, but it offends us with its pure mediocrity.

We’ll happily play all season long, during which we’ll invent a thousand more reasons to love and hate it all at the same time. No matter what, though, we’d be lying if we said we weren’t a tad disappointed that this year’s version didn’t make the same jump we’d gotten accustomed to the last two years.

We’ll happily play all season long, during which we’ll invent a thousand more reasons to love and hate it all at the same time. No matter what, though, we’d be lying if we said we weren’t a tad disappointed that this year’s version didn’t make the same jump we’d gotten accustomed to the last two years.

It’s an undeniably fun experience that will please many in its target audience, and even includes roster updates and online play. Not to mention we’re really starting to like a little waggle with our football.

A solid football title that you probably don’t need to play. Make some roster adjustments to 08 (or even 07) or, better yet, make the move to next-gen consoles and start soaking in some big-time NFL atmosphere. Your $40 will thank you.

Madden and PSP have gone together beautifully for years now, and for better or worse this season is no different.

But buried underneath the sometimes slopped-on content is fairly competent strategy game. It's challenging enough for serious gamers, but forgiving enough that you can go ahead a use your favorite Sorceress even if a goblin Warrior would be stronger.

While Power Pros 2008 offers an undeniably massive amount of modes and options, we could’ve easily waited until next spring for a truer, fuller follow-up. Veterans of last season’s title have pretty much played this game already, but it is a nice place to start if you’re new to the series.